The Wolf's Curse
by ZapWBolt
Summary: Strange things are happening to the Kanes, and to Egyptian magicians everywhere... Could it have something to with a strange curse, formed millions of years ago? (There will be a book two)
1. Chapter 1

So this is a whole nother story. I mean, it wasn't just Egyptian. It wasn't about The House. It wasn't like anything we've ever experienced before. It was another realm, and I can't say we were very familiar with it.

I'm Carter Kane. Egyptian magician. And I've been through a lot, with my sister Sadie at my side. But the story we're about to tell you is completely different.

We were in the mansion when we first got word of her. Another trainee, Blood of the Pharaohs. So Sadie, Bast and I set out to find her. Bast is the Cat Goddess. She was the Cat of Ra, sentenced to fight Apophis, the chaos snake, for eternity, well until our parents came along. My mother opened her post, and set her free, but she was killed in the process. So my father declared that Bast would become Sadie's guardian. Now she was helping us recruit new magicians.

"So who is this kid anyway?" Sadie asked me as we flew over New York City on a boat. Yes, I said a boat.

I handed her the book. "Oh, I see. Well she looks, I dunno…"

"Suspicious?" Bast filled in her sentence.

"Yeah… Suspicious." Sadie inquired.

"Oh please! She's an eleven year old girl!" I rolled my eyes. For once, my sister was being cautious.

[Ow! What is wrong with you?] Sadie just punched me.

"Agh!" Khufu barked. Did I neglect to mention we had a baboon on board?

"Khufu and Sadie are right. There's something strange about this girl." Bast agreed.

"Well we won't find out if you're right if we don't go!" I looked ahead, steering the boat. Suddenly, there was a snarling noise. A giant wolf plucked our boat right out of the sky!

"What the-" I said as we crashed to the ground. "Are you guys okay?"

"No! I am not okay!" Sadie pointed at the wolf and I watched it devour her staff and my khopesh!

"Did that thing just eat my sword?" I didn't believe it. The sword had been, like, incredibly sharp. The huge wolf didn't even seem affected!

"Are you blind?" Sadie screamed. "It ate my staff too!"

After the wolf had finished off our items and a dumpster filled with rotting meat, it turned it's gleaming yellow eyes towards us. It licked its lips and howled this piercing scream. I thought the cops would come running, but I looked around and noticed that time had frozen. None of the mortals moved, or seemed to notice anything!

The wolf started getting closer. It padded towards us, on paws that were bigger than me! It's claws were about a meter long.

"Uh, what do we do?" I was pretty freaked out. If that thing had just eaten my razor blade sword, it wouldn't have any trouble digesting us. I looked over at Bast. Her hair was standing on end. Sadie was frozen. I could tell she was racking her brain for a spell. Khufu was picking up sidewalk rubble the beast had created as it smashed through the ground. He chucked all he had gathered at the wolf, but it opened it's lethal jaws and swallowed the concrete.

Now the wolf was almost on top of us. "Sadie? How's it coming?" I asked.

"I've got it!" Sadie cast a spell. "A'max!" The spell for _burn._ A flaming hieroglyph hovered

in the air and shot towards the huge creature. The thing opened its jaws again and the hieroglyph was gone. Sadie shot me a nervous glance. The creature proceeded towards us. Soon, it was over us. It glared down, opened its jaws and-

"Swallower! Swallower of spells!" a rough voice rang out. There was a howl, not as piercing as the beast's but just as powerful, and the hideous wolf disintegrated. I looked over where the voice had come from, the shadow of a dark alley. All I saw was a large black body, one that looked like a canine, bright brown eyes, and a white spot on the chest that held a scar that looked like a bolt. The canine flashed it's pearly white teeth at us, and was gone.

We stared in awe at where the dark canine had been.

"Maybe we should go." Bast finally said. "The mortals are beginning to stir."

I nodded and climbed back onto our boat, which wasn't as shaken as I thought. The others followed.

Soon, we were sailing again.

"What was that?" Sadie asked Bast.

"I-I don't know. It wasn't egyptian." Bast replied with a faraway look.

"Well whatever it was, it's gone now." I declared.

"Agh! Agh!" Khufu agreed.

"Didn't that dog thing call it 'Swallower of Spells'?" Sadie wondered.

"Yeah…" I thought. I didn't tell anyone, but I had seen that dog in my latest _ba_ trip. He was running with a wolf pack. They were chasing a moose. Cornered it, dead. As his pack was eating, he turned his head towards me. "Stay away from the key." he had growled. And he returned to his kill.

After a little while, we were hovering over Frederick County, Maryland. I pointed down. "That's her house. Time to go invisible. Sadie?"

Sadie flicked her hand. I looked down. My feet were see through. I landed the boat and Sadie, Bast and I got off. "Khufu, stay here and guard our boat."

"Agh!" Khufu grunted, sounding brave.

We snuck inside, and headed downstairs, where we heard a piano playing. The piece was well done. It was Ode to Joy.

"There she is!" I pointed to the girl sitting at the piano. She was pale, with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes. Pretty tall too. She was wearing glasses, and a purple shirt with jeans. She turned her head towards us.

"I've been expecting you." She gave us a glance and returned to her piano. Two dogs sat nearby. One was golden and the other was black. They were large. The golden one was chewing on a bone and the black one was just resting. Both dogs turned their heads toward us and growled.

"Summer! Bailey! Be nice to our guests!" The girl waved a finger at them. Both dogs resumed their business. I glanced over at Bast and saw her peering at the dogs nervously. Her hair was on end again.

But I was really freaked out when I looked over at the couch. There sat, the big black canine, with his brown eyes and bolt scar.


	2. Chapter 2

"H-How did you know we were coming?" I stammered.

"I know lots of things, thanks to Zapherte here." The girl laughed like I was an idiot asking that question.

The black dog gave a little growl. "Do you mind? You know, when you call me that it-" he was cut off.

"Agitates you. Blah blah blah." She teased.

"Well, I guess I should explain. My name is Stephanie, if you didn't know. And I am no mere mortal. You're thinking, Of course! You're blood of the Pharaohs! But that's not what I mean. I belong to Barkida."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sadie clasped her amulet. The Knot of Isis. I have the eye of Horus.

"Zap? Why don't you explain? You have a better history than I do." Stephanie glanced at the dog.

"I will introduce myself first." His voice sounded brave and powerful.

"I-I didn't know dogs could talk." I looked at the other two. "Can they talk?"

"Of course we can!" The golden one snarled.

"What are you, an ididog?" the black one accused.

The large dog sighed. "That's Summer." he pointed to the golden one. "And that's Bailey." he pointed to the black one. "I am Zap. Zap Wolf Bolt."

"Woah woah woah." Sadie moved her hands in the air, indicating for him to stop. "Back up. Dogs can talk. Dogs can talk?"

"Of course! Now shut your snout before I bite it off!" Zap snapped. Sadie looked surprised. I mean, I guess she's wasn't used to people talking back to her, let alone dogs.

"See, I am half wolf, half black Newfoundland dog. I am the heir to the White Wolf, and I must destroy the evil Black Wolf. I am a wizard. A wizard of Embarkida. Embarkida is where us canine wizards go to learn our magic. Oh and Barkida is the dog wizard dimension. The White Wolf is our mystical ruler. She's I guess what you could call a goddess. She created everything with the help of the Black Wolf, who's evil. He wasn't always evil, but that's another story. He has equal power, but on the dark side." Zap explained.

"You were the dog we saw when that beast attacked." Sadie had recovered.

"Oh, Swallower? Please!" Zap rolled his eyes. "He's my beast. All of us wizards have one. He's one of the most powerful. And I don't mean to brag, but I am the heir to the White Wolf, so I get all the good stuff."

"Wait. You are Zap Wolf Bolt, canine agent at Dog H.Q?" Bast asked.

"Yeah…" Zap replied. "You know some M.E.O.W.S. agents?"

"Yup."

"What the heck is Dog H.Q.?" Sadie and I both asked.

"It's classified." Zap, Stephanie, Summer, Bailey and Bast all said at the same time.

"Oookay…" I was a little weirded out. I mean, this kid, who's younger than me by three years knows more than I do. Then we find out dogs can talk! Then we find out about this Barkida place. Oh, and don't forget the Swallower incident! But Sadie was not as calm about it.

"What is going on here? I want answers!" She shouted. Luckily our invisibility suits made us soundproof too, but only to those who didn't know we were there."And Bast! You're in on this too?"

"It's difficult." Bast sighed.

"Quite." Summer glared at Sadie.

"Indeed." Agreed Bailey.

"Is the key safe?" Zap asked Stephanie, as if he was suspecting us.

"Of course! We wouldn't want anyone to get their hands on it." she replied.

"What key?" Sadie demanded.

"It's nothing really." Zap glowered. "Just the Key of Barkida. Nothing you would consider, with all you're Egyptian stuff." I hated the way he emphasized the 's' in 'stuff'. Almost like he was scoffing us.

I looked over at Stephanie. She was making that strange sound, that clicking sound you make when you want your dog to come. She slapped her hands together. And you'll never guess who appeared. Anubis. The god of funerals.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi this is Sadie here. Carter's sister. Alright, let's back up a little bit.

I was steaming. Bast wouldn't tell me anything, Zap was snarling and Stephanie- well she was just being very disagreeable at the moment. Oh- and then Anubis shows up.

"Anubis?" Don't ask God where he came from.

Anubis looked away. His black hair shrouded his eyes.

"Servant, fetch the key." Stephanie ordered him. Anubis immediately walked out of the room.

"Servant?" Carter was even more confused than I was.

"Let me explain. A few weeks ago, Anubis accidentally stumbled into Barkida. Long story short, I was the first living thing he saw besides a few trees. There was a troll invasion and I had just arrived. I was running to the castle to get away. So he was forced to become my servant. Sounds evil, but he works for me now." Stephanie explained.

"You see, when a Non-Barkidian enters Barkida, the first living thing they see becomes their new master. No matter the usual ranking." Zap told us. "But if a Non-Barkidian is escorted into Barkida by a Barkidian, they're fine."

"Too many Barkidas and Barkidians." It was totally brain scrambling.

"I have to say that it's pretty good having a personal servant." Stephanie looked at Zap.

Anubis had just come back in. He was carrying a pillow. On it there was a tiny key. It was only as big as the first part of my little finger. The pillow was glowing. The key seemed to be protected by it. Okay, it was not like Anubis to be taking orders from this kid. And I should know. [Stop laughing Carter!]

"What is that? A key?" I stared at the miniscule thing. I saw a fancy B was engraved on it. A small paw print was underneath it.

"Yup." Bailey was looking down at the key.

"The Key of Barkida." Zap was looking down at it too. So was pretty much everyone else in the room.

"What's it do?" Carter asked.

"Its a key. It opens locks." Bailey gave him a strange look. Summer stifled a laugh.

"Yeah, but what lock?" I asked impatiently. We didn't have all day.

"I was hoping to avoid telling you that." Zap looked grim. "It stops the curse."

"What curse?" I was freaking out now.

"The Wolf's Curse." Anubis had finally spoken.

"What's that, may I ask?"

"Can't tell you. If I do, you'll freak out. Its best you didn't know." Zap glanced at me and returned his gaze to the key.

"I think I'm already freaked out enough, thank you very much." I snapped.

"Well that's too bad." Stephanie looked at Anubis. "Return it safely."

"Well now that that conversation is over, lets proceed." Zap looked over at Carter and I.

We just stood there like fools.

"You know, the recruiting?" Stephanie circled her hands.

"Oh. Yeah." Carter said slowly.

"Um, as you see, I'm already taken by Barkida. I've been granted the power to do some of my own magic." Stephanie said.

"Really? I can hardly believe that." I couldn't believe such a thing.

Stephanie smiled slyly and and I found myself slamming into the wall. Anubis walked in just in time to see it happen. Great timing! Oh God. I swear I saw him laughing.

"Now do you believe me?"

"Ahem. Yeah. Sure." I got up and brushed myself off. My dignity had just gotten down graded by ten points.

"Now um, if you guys will excuse me, I've got homework to do. I'm a full time student. Rocky and the boys are waiting." Zap stepped through a golden portal.

"As am I." Stephanie turned and headed up the stairs. "Talk to you later."

"I'm gonna go take a nap." Bailey yawned. "You coming Summer?" Both of them followed Stephanie.

Carter and Bast looked at each other. "We should go tell Amos we can't get her."

That left Anubis and I. Help me now.

Anubis sat down on the couch. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there.

"Sooo, how's life?" He asked.

"It's moderate." I answered. "How's um, death?"

"Pretty good." He _was_ the god of funerals.

"Is it that bad, being a servant?"

"Not really. I've had much worse masters."

"You mean you've done this before?"

"Oh yeah… Billions of times." And I'm quite sure he meant literally. "See, I didn't just fall into Barkida on accident. I went there on purpose."

"But why?" I was really confused now.

"I wanted the key. For um, funeral purposes. Yeah that makes sense... It can stop any curse, but it's best at The Wolf's Curse. Now its finally in my grasp, but I can't reach it, being a servant and all. That always happens. It somehow falls into the hands of my new master, but I can't get it. It doesn't want me to."

"How long will she keep you?" I asked him.

"As long as she wants. She says if I do my job well, she'll let me go. It's not so bad. She still lets me do my regular job too." He replied.

I found myself sitting down next to him. "I'll help you."

"With what?"

"Getting the key of course."

"Oh no. I can't disobey her. I literally cannot. Like, it's not in my willpower." he seemed nervous.

"I could get it for you. I could do whatever you wanted to do with it." I looked over at him.

He gave me a look that basically said 'Are you insane?' "No. It would be too dangerous."

"You worried about me?" My heart skipped a beat as I thought about what he had just said.

"Um- No. I'm just worried about what would happen if something went wrong. That's all." he looked down at the floor.

"Well I was going to say, I think I can handle myself just fine." When I said this, I think he almost smiled.


	4. Chapter 4

We booked a hotel for the night so we could talk in the morning. Hotels don't typically let baboons in, so Khufu had to keep his invisibility spell on. The rooms were okay, but I'm not going to lie about room service. It was horrible. We ordered a few sandwiches for Carter and I and some Cheerios for Khufu. He only eats food that end in 'o'. Bast stuck to her Friskies dinner. They really screwed up our order. First they brought up some meal this old lady ordered. Prunes everywhere. Then some guy's burger. God he must've been fat. After what seemed like a trillion hours, they finally got our order right.

As we were eating, we noticed this strange sound. Another howl. Not a good sign.

I went to look out the balcony window and you'll never guess what I saw. A husky black wolf and a beautiful white wolf that seemed to be in a head on sibling war. [Yes Carter. Like us.] The black one was cursing in some foreign growl language that I guess was wolf. The white one shot back a few insults. She lunged at the black one and bit his leg. He yelped in pain but tackled her and held her down. She struggled, but it was pretty much a useless attempt. She went limp and he let her up.

Carter and Bast were standing behind me. "What's going on?"

"I have no idea." We glanced at each other, raced out of our room and took the elevator down. We were in such a hurry we forgot the room key, but that would be easy to fix with a spell.

When we got downstairs, we saw that Zap and a few other dogs were standing in between them.

"You again?" I looked at Zap.

"Oh. Yippee." he said sarcastically. "Rocky and Zip, meet Carter and Sadie. They're the humans I was talking about before."

The large Rottweiler named Rocky studied us while the black and white chihuahua named Zip sniffed us. "Cat." He was sniffing Bast.

"Oh and this is Dark Shadow." the black wolf growled at us. "This is Light Sky." the white wolf just glared. "They're the son and daughter of the Black Wolf and the White Wolf."

"They had kids? Yeesh… That's one messed up family." I stated. That got both the wolves snarling. Their hackles were beginning to rise higher and higher.

"Not as messed up as the Black Wolf's other family. He married the Red Wolf after he turned evil. They named their kids Rose, Rosey, Rosa, Rosalyn and Chad."

"Chad?" Carter asked.

"Yep. Oh and Dracula's also their son. He's the outcast. They hate him. You know, vampire?"

"So um, what were they fighting about?" Bast inquired.

"Sibling rivalry. That's all." Light Sky growled.

"Everyone who has siblings has it." Dark Shadow's neck hair was standing straight up.

"Oh believe me. I know." I muttered.

Suddenly, a shot of red light split open the ground. It blazed over all of us and finally stopped at Zap. He covered his eyes.

"No! It couldn't be!" he yelled.

"But it is." An evil voice cackled. "Grandpa Wolfie's here."

A throne rose out of the ground. On it sat a dark wolf. The Black Wolf.

"And now it's time to obliterate you." he smirked. Hundreds of creepy shadows in the shape of wolves shot out from behind him. Mortals were screaming now. I don't think anyone had seen our faces. A shadow shot through a nearby mortal and they collapsed, half dead.

"The Shadow Wolves! No! Rocky, Zip! You know what to do!" Zap leapt into full ninja mode. He flew over wolves and landed beside us. "Bast, since you have some powerful magic on you, try to distract them like Rocky and Zip are doing. Just don't let them touch you! I'll protect these two. Go! Please! We don't have much time!"

Bast sighed. She nodded and took off. "Wait!" I cried. But she was already in battle. Zap was conjuring up what looked like a magic circle in the shape of a pawprint around us. But he wasn't quick enough. Just before the circle closed around me, a crack shot through the ground and carried me away from Carter and Zap.

"Sadie!" Carter screamed as he watched me get yanked from the circle. Even worse, Shadow Wolves were being carried away with me, I looked down in the ravine, to see if I could jump it. I could faintly see lava bubbling deep down. It was too wide and deep.

I realized the Shadow Wolves were closing in around me. I didn't know what to do. I tried to cast random spells, but they were useless. It was too late. One of the wolves was charging straight towards me. I was doomed.

"No!" I looked up and saw Anubis standing in front of me. The Shadow Wolf kept coming.

"What are you doing?!" I was freaking out. Zap said the Wolves could hurt Bast, so they could hurt Anubis.

" _Now_ , I'm trying to protect you." The Wolves lunged and smacked right into him. He crumpled onto the ground. My throat closed up. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.

"Retreat! Retreat!' The Black Wolf was snarling. I saw Light Sky and Dark Shadow taking out the Wolves left and right. They were the only ones who were able to do so. All the Shadow Wolves sunk into the ground, as did the Black Wolf. The ground closed up. All of the mortals around us were heaps on the ground. Most were breathing, but not very well. I heard sirens in the distance.

I knelt over Anubis. I couldn't tell if he was still alive. He slowly transformed into a jackal. No golden collar. He had risked his life, to save me.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi this is Carter again. I have one word: disaster. That's what happens when there's a jackal in your hotel room. So just to recap, the Shadow Wolves attacked and Anubis was half dead. You know, godly dead.

So we got the Anubis jackal into our hotel room. It took a great deal of sneaking. After that, Zap and his friends went home. They said they would get detention if they weren't in bed. Strict. But we would not really get to sleep.

Okay, so the jackal decided it would be a good idea to eat our pillows. There were feathers everywhere, and it looked like a chicken had exploded. It took me forever to get each feather off the floor and the furniture. Sadie had to try to wrangle the jackal while Bast went downstairs to get some new pillows. Room service brought them up, but room service is terrible so they brought us some teacups and an old shoe. I could see teacups, but an old shoe? Why would someone even want that? They left the items in the room but that made the mess worse. There were shoe shreds and broken teacups everywhere.

We finally got new pillows. I had to hide them so they wouldn't get destroyed again. We were trying not to use any magic, so cleaning up was hard. We were able to get the jackal to calm down after about five hours. We went to bed, but I didn't get to sleep long because I woke up to the sound of crinkling cellophane. The jackal had raided the minibar. There was garbage strewn everywhere. It even managed to open the soda cans! The one thing it hadn't eaten was a Diet Pepsi can it was picking at.

Then we discovered the jackal had turned on the coffee machine. Coffee was everywhere. It had opened all the sugar packets too.

Finally, we noticed water seeping out of the bathroom. The jackal had figured out how to turn on the sink and the shower. The bathroom was completely flooded.

We did our best to clean up and we got on our boat and left. We had to conjure up a jackal cage, but the Anubis jackal still managed to rip out a few bars. The cage still served its purpose.

We got to Stephanie's house to discuss that her servant may permanently be a jackal. The jackal charged through her house before she finally stopped it. Surprisingly it listened.

"It's still my servant, just in animal form. They're harder to control that way." she told us. "Sorry guys, but I'm busy. You know you're wasting your time with me, right? Oh and, jackal? You're free to go." The jackal yanked us out of the room and outside. All the way down the street on the asphalt. Man that thing was strong. A few of the neighbors saw us. Hopefully they thought the jackal was just a misbehaved dog.

As we brushed ourselves off, I noticed a little Jack Russell Terrier dog coming towards us.

"Zap Wolf Bolt requests your presence at Embarkida. He's heard about your jackal troubles and he thinks he can turn Anubis back. I will escort you. Follow me." the dog yapped. He dashed around a house and disappeared. Sadie gave me one look and shot off like rocket following the terrier. This time, the jackal was the one being dragged!

Bast, Khufu and I tried our best to keep up. When we finally made it, we saw the Jack Russell had created a bone to chew and Sadie was sitting on an old bench. The jackal was staring at the little dog, hoping for some of bone.

"What took you so long?" the terrier growled. "Hurry up! If we don't get to Embarkida in the next three hours and perform the spell, Anubis may be a jackal permanently!"

"Why didn't you tell us before?" In between words I gasped for breath.

"Panic might set in." He paused. "Let it set in."

"If Anubis can't get back to the underworld then everything will be off balance!" I realized.

"Okay. It's set in? Let's go." the terrier took off running again and Sadie followed.

When we'd finally caught up with them again, we didn't get any time to rest. Off we went!

At the third checkpoint, the Jack Russell Terrier went on and on about how he was going to lose his job in the Z.A.P. Squad if we kept this up. 'What's the Z.A.P. Squad?' you may ask. It's an elite team of canines who work for Zap, to get him through his years at Embarkida without anyone foiling his plans to defeat the Black Wolf.

At least his lecture gave us some time to rest. But soon we were off again.

When we arrived at the final location, the Terrier had already opened the portal to Embarkida.

"This is the only place we can open the portal. My magic is weak here and all the other portals are closed. We are currently on lock down, so I had to sneak out. A Shadow Wolf team has gotten into Embarkida. If you see anything, tell me. I'll deal with it from there." For one tiny dog, that Jack was tough!

He stepped through the portal first, and Sadie followed. Everyone else stepped through. I stood staring at it. It wasn't like any portal I had seen before. I sensed one thing: danger.

"Coming?" someone asked.

I stepped through, into the swirling vortex.


	6. Chapter 6

As soon as I stepped through the portal, it closed up behind me. The Jack Russell Terrier sniffed the air and looked around.

"Shadow Wolf, that way." He pointed west. "West is the evil direction up here in Barkida. It kinda goes with the Western Dragon thing. The Black Wolf's Forest is that way too." He sniffed again. "Follow me."

He ran through a patch of deep grass and we arrived in a large village. The buildings were medieval style. Up on a hill behind the village was a castle. It was huge and had billowing flags with an _E_ on them.

As we moved on, the terrier always kept his nose pointed west. We started through the town and ran along an alleyway. Suddenly, the little dog came to an abrupt halt.

"Get down! Behind those trash cans!" he whispered.

"Why?" Sadie asked.

"Do you want to live? Just do it! And hand me the jackal!" Sadie was reluctant, but when he growled she let go of the rope. Bast gave a little hiss when he growled but he pretended not to notice.

The Jack Russell paced towards the back of the alley."Come out come out wherever you are!"

Suddenly, both the jackal and the terrier's ears went back. The dog untied the rope around the jackal's neck. Four huge arrows with some sort of shiny fluid on the ends came flying out of the wall. Sadie gasped. I covered my eyes. I felt the arrows whiz by and when I looked up, the two canines were unharmed.

"Good. Very good." a voice came out of no where. "The jackal is ready." The big black dog appeared. Zap.

"Sir, Agent 5734B Boulder Brackenfur reporting for duty. The mission has been successful." the terrier saluted to Zap.

"Good work agent. I'm putting you in for a leadership role." Zap saluted back. "As for you three and the baboon, you can come out now."

"Agh!" Khufu barked angrily.

"What was with those arrows?" I asked.

"Testing. Only a real agent could have dodged those." Zap answered.

"But how did the jackal know?" Bast squinted at Zap accusingly.

"I have my ways. A jackal is a canine after all." Zap said with a hint of a smile. "Now please follow me. Agent Zip has come up with a formula that might just turn this jackal back. Agent Boulder, you have earned a break. You may leave."

For a big dog, Zap was quite nimble. He hopped over crates and practically bounced off the walls as he made his way through the alley. Bast and the jackal could keep up well enough, but the rest of us were having a hard time.

"The Shadow Wolf is getting closer. Through this tunnel." Zap pushed his paw against the wall and a door slid open. As he lifted his paw, I noticed something weird on it.

"May I ask, what's on your paw?" I inquired as we stepped into the tunnel which was lit with circular blue lights. The door slid closed behind us.

"Oh this?" he flashed the paw at me and I realized, that engraved in his paw pad was the word _wolf._ "It was scratched there so everyone would know who I am."

"Kind of like a brand?"

"I guess you could say that."

Soon we emerged into a room. It had two bunks and a singular bed in it. The wall was lined with pictures and there were two windows. The shades were drawn. There were four other dogs in the room. Two of them were Rocky and Zip, but the other two were bloodhounds.

"Meet Sniffer and Sleuth." Zap pointed at the two hounds.

"Um, hi." I stepped out of the tunnel.

We all stepped out into the room.

"This is our dorm room. Technically it's a boys dorm, and two of you are obviously female. I mean none of you are supposed to be in here in the first place cause you're humans, but you know. We are a top secret organization." Zap explained.

I looked at all the pictures on the wall. One was of an old dog who had a grey muzzle. The one next to it had a picture of a pretty brindle greyhound. The frame was a heart. The one above those was a picture of a beautiful silver wolf and a handsome black Newfoundland dog.

"What are those pictures of?" Sadie asked.

"Well that one's my step dad Butch." Zap pointed to the old dog. "The one over there is my girlfriend Ginger." he pointed to the greyhound. "And that one…" he hesitated as he gazed at the last picture. "Those are my parents."

"Where are your parents now?" Bast cocked her head. I looked over at the other dogs and saw them wince.

Zap sighed. "My parents were captured by the Black Wolf before I was even old enough to realize what was happening. I don't really remember them that much, just that my father was a dog and he ran away from his owners to live with my mother. They had me, and before I turned nine weeks old they were captured. That old dog named Butch, my step father, found me and took me back to his home in San Francisco. I lived as a city stray mutt for most of my years until I came here."

I didn't know what to say. Did I know how that felt.

"See, the Black Wolf's original heir was killed by my parents. But there are two ways to die. Through soul and through body. Most people die through body. Of course that's what happened to the heir. His soul is still there and the Black Wolf has it. He wants to kill me through soul, which is much more difficult than through body, and put his old heir's soul into me. He needs a body that is strong in magic and power like mine." Zap told us.

 _Wow. That is just creepy._ I thought, but I didn't say anything.

"Anywho, should we get going?" Zip said after a long silence. He had this expression on his face that basically said, _Awkward!_ The feeling was mutual. "We have two hours. Follow me to the lab please. Only one of you. Sadie? Alright. And bring the jackal." Sadie stood next to Zip, who pressed a button and the floor began to lower like an elevator. Before she disappeared, Sadie gave me a forlorn look. The floor closed up behind them and they were gone.


	7. Chapter 7

Sadie here again. This is where it gets interesting. Like it already hasn't.

"Here we go." Zip hopped off the platform. I stepped off behind him. The lab was huge. Lights lit up the entire room and pipes and tubes covered the walls. A desk was in the corner and six huge black topped tables were in the center of the room. Test tubes were everywhere and there were five sinks with giant hoses. There was a fire extinguisher and an a eye wash with a shower. A few cabinets here and there with safety goggles. Dioramas lined the walls.

"This is my lab. My science lab." He laughed like it was a joke. "Dog puns! Get it? Lab? Labrador Retriever? You don't get it do you?"

I just stared at him.

"You're no fun." Zip muttered. "Alright, bring the jackal here."

"So what do you do here?" I asked trying to make conversation. Also to keep him from trying any more of his dog puns.

"Most of my science projects. I'm a science geek in the dog world. Actually, the one I'm about to perform for your friend here is more magic than science, so there are less chemically things that could go wrong. He probably has about a ninety-five percent chance of surviving. That's pretty good considering some of my last projects. Ugh. Frog guts everywhere." He looked like he was picturing some pretty nasty scenes.

"Well try not to kill him, okay?" I turned my head towards the jackal which was staring at Zip. Don't ask me why cause I don't know.

"You might want to leave." Zip gestured towards a door.

"Oh yeah. Sure." I backed away.

It seemed like I was out there forever. I started pacing around after a few minutes but I stopped myself. _What_ was I doing? Finally, Zip emerged out of the door.

"Well there's good news and bad news." If a dog could purse it's lips he would have. "The good news, it worked!"

A little voice inside me went _Yes! Oh thank God!_ but another one went _Seriously, why were you so worried in the first place?_

"The bad news, I just thought of another dog pun! Ha! I got you!" He snickered and turned back inside. "You can come in now."

I followed him inside. I saw the jackal lying by the table, but this time it was wearing a golden collar, like the one the Anubis jackal always wore. That was enough proof right there and my heartbeat finally slowed down.

"He'll wake up in a few minutes. After that, I need a nap. Bringing a god back from the duat is hard work! If dogs could sweat, I would be right now!" Zip panted.

A few minutes later, the jackal began to stir. He twitched and then sat up. He opened his eyes and looked at me and then at Zip. He looked down at his paws and then looked at us again. He shook himself in a blur of fur. When he stopped, there stood Anubis in his human form.

Anubis grabbed his head. "Wh-what happened?"

"Well, to sum it up, you engaged in a hopeless battle to save Sadie's life from the Shadow Wolves." Zip looked up.

Suddenly, Anubis's eyes lit up. "I'm free!" he said, like he had woken up from a nightmare. "She freed me!"

I was speechless. Question mark.

"She did. So you can do whatever you want now." Zip said.

I realized they were talking about Stephanie. "Wait, she freed you? When?"

"Mind communication." Anubis answered.

"AKA, kything!" Zip finished. We both gave him a weird look. "What?"

The elevator clanked down and Zap, Rocky and the two bloodhounds got off. My brother and the other's followed.

"So it worked?" Zap asked. "Good work Agent Zip! I'm promoting you up to science level seven!"

"Yes!" Zip seemed really excited.

"Dude, when you gonna promote me?" Rocky joked.

"Rocky, you're pretty much as high as they come." Zap replied with a laugh.

A door burst open and three more dogs stepped in. A large brown dog with long fur, a golden one with blue eyes and a little black and white Shih-Tzu.

"Hey guys. Those are my two half sisters, Lumincint, the golden one, and Ivy, the brown one. Oh and that's my aunt Thyme." Zap waved at them.

"Wait, that Shih-Tzu's you're aunt?" I didn't believe it. It was impossible.

"Oh yeah! Small dog at day, fierce wolf at night. Wait for it-" the Shih-Tzu growled.

There was a shaft of light and in the Shih-Tzu's place stood a silver wolf. "I'm a Wolf Hound. Magical dog wolf breed."

"So does that make you a wolf-a-dog thing too?" I asked.

Both Zap', Lumicint's and Thyme's heads shot around to glare at me. " _Never_ call us that." they menaced.

"Jeez! Okay!" I put my hands up in the air.

"Come on. Dinner's being served upstairs." Sleuth bayed. He nudged his brother Sniffer who had fallen asleep while standing.

"Ooh yeah! It's steak and cheese night!" Ivy screeched as she jumped around. Hyperactive mutt.

"Back upstairs everyone. Zap clambered onto the elevator. Everyone followed. It was a tight fit, but we all made it on. I squished in next to two mutts but Anubis was on the other side.

"Glad to have you back." I muttered, just loud enough so he could hear it.

"Thanks. I'm glad to be back." he shuddered. I wonder if he knew what he he did as a jackal, you know, the pillows and the minibar stuff? Well whether he did or not, I didn't care. I was just happy he wasn't stuck as a jackal.


	8. Chapter 8

We were back in the dorm room.

"Anubis is back to normal." Zip pointed to him. "Thanks to me. He he."

"Dinner time." Rocky glanced at the clock. "Surveillance cams?"

"Oh yeah. Let's see if there's any suspicious activity going down. Zap pushed a button a computer popped up. "Hmm, Doggo doesn't seem to be up to anything. Bro-Dawg's just flirting and… Oh look it's Flash and her friends!"

Zap zoomed the camera in on a beautiful Great Pyrenees with silver-blue eyes and a purple bow in her hair. She had a purple collar encrusted with gems.

"I thought you already had a girlfriend." Carter mentioned.

"What? You suspecting something?" Zap glanced at him and closed the computer.

"Downstairs agents! Double time! Oh and, on the count of food for you guys, don't ask me. I don't have anything. It's every wolf for himself in the pack! Well, after they catch the food..." Zap turned and exited the door. "Steak and cheese night, here we come!"

"Well thanks for everything, Mr. Giving. How generous." I muttered.

"So, grilled cheese and Friskies anyone? I have some Cheerios for Khufu" Bast asked whipping up a few plates. We all groaned. Why the grilled cheese? Have you ever tried Bast's grilled cheese? Well let me tell you, you don't want to!

We ate the food and then sat around and waited for the dogs to come back. Just for fun, I pushed the button that opened Zap's computer to see what would happen, and it worked. He forgot to lock it I guess. But he did lock it on cam.

I looked into the huge dining hall and I caught sight of Zap. He and his friends were sitting at a table right next to that girl named Flash's. I could see Zap look at Flash every so often. They had these huge juicy steaks piled with all this cheese. Mozzarella, swiss, cheddar, you name it. Rocky ate his in about five seconds. The other's were a bit slower, but not by much.

Dinner was over soon and I saw the dogs begin to file out. I closed the computer and sat down on the couch. The same E was everywhere. I guess it was the Embarkida logo.

Zap and his friends arrived in the dorm, but only the boys. "We have to be in bed soon. Classes tomorrow. You guys have to stay here because the portal can't be opened again until we're off lockdown, so hopefully the Shadow Wolves will leave. For sleeping arrangements, you humans will have to take the attic. It's divided into two parts, so that'll help. No one ever goes up there, not even the janitor. Though the place could've used him. But we fixed it up as one of our bases, so there are no more spiders the size of dinner plates." He shuddered at the thought. "You can lock it from the inside. Just go up all the way on the elevator."

We all got on again and the elevator began to climb up. Soon we got to the attic.

It was decent, with eight beds and a refrigerator. There were a few lamps. It looked like a normal room, but I bet there were high-tech devices all around. I made a mental note to try and find some. It was split into two rooms, four beds on each side. There was a bathroom in each room. I summoned a toothbrush from the duat [Yes I keep one there Carter. At least I'm smart enough to do that. Ahem, unlike you. Ow!] and stepped into the bathroom.

When I was ready for bed, I looked outside only to see a dragon, pegasus and falcon flying directly for Zap's window below us. I looked down and saw Zap pet them and throw out some food. Pets I guess.

I got in bed and Bast was soon to follow. Bast went to sleep, but I didn't. Well hopefully she went to sleep, cats like to stay up during the night, considering what I was about to do next. I decided to do a little snooping. I opened a few drawers and pushed around on the walls but I found nothing. I was climbing back into bed when I bumped into the wall. Something slid out and fell onto my pillow. I picked it up and squinted at it. I could see a beautiful white wolf and a handsome black wolf in the picture and on the top it said _Jet and Crystal._ I shoved it back into the wall and climbed back into bed. After a while, I finally fell asleep. I still thought about the picture, even though I wasn't awake.

 _Jet and Crystal were two who once loved…_


	9. Chapter 9

[Give me the mic Sadie!] Okay, Carter here.

I woke up to the sound of an alarm blaring. I got out of bed and saw dogs lined up against the wall. Some were typing on computers and pulling papers out of printers while others dialed in phone numbers and called up whoever.

"Do you mind?" Sadie complained. The dogs ignored her and kept running around. Zap gave her a quick glance and returned to giving out orders.

"Um, what's going on?" I asked him.

"We're on alert. My arch enemy Doggo Slobbermouth is plotting something with the most evil student here, Luna R. Eclipse." he told me.

"Luna R. Eclipse? What does the R. stand for?" I inquired, even though I was pretty sure I didn't want to know.

"Reeper. Reeper of Souls. She likes to eat souls for snacks." Zap said like it was no big deal. Yes, I wished I hadn't asked. "She's a Shadow Cat. Not like a Shadow Wolf. She can turn from solid to shadow and she's much more evil. She's the queen of the Lunar Shadow Cats."

"Why would Embarkida let her go here? She's evil and a cat." This was actually kind of scary.

"Well, evil needs to learn how to use magic too, don't they? And since she's part shadow, she doesn't have any true form, her shadow just takes the form of a cat. Zip knows her pretty well. Luna also has this 'friend', a dog named Emma, but we know she's not a dog. She's a vampire." Zap whispered the last part.

I was going to have nightmares. If I ever slept again.

"What are they plotting?" Sadie had been there the whole time.

"Not sure yet. We just know it's something. Zip's not just our scientist, he's our double agent. He found out the info, but we're sending him back in." Zap looked over at Zip who was opening files on the computer and sending them to who knows where. Zap saw me looking at him. "He's sending away all our files just in case our computers get hacked."

"Where's he sending them to?" Sadie asked.

"Well duh! I obviously can't tell you that! It's paged top secret! Now go agents go! Print out that info and discard our files! Go! We don't have all day!" Zap barked.

"Won't everyone hear the alarms?"

"No. The floor and walls are soundproof."

Rocky walked up to Zap. "Umm, dude? We got a problem."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Someone's hacking our system."

"Oh my dog! Get the best tech agent in there that you can!"

"That leaves another problem. You sent our tech agents out to our other secret base to shutdown the system."

"Oh, not good. I'll do it." Zap dashed away to the nearest computer. We followed.

Zap was typing in random streams of numbers. "Yes! I overrided the hack! Let me see if we picked up any viruses."

"Does Zap know a lot of stuff about computers and junk?" I asked Rocky.

"Yeah. Zap, can I tell them the story?" Rocky looked at Zap.

"I would say yes, but you'll have to tell them about Dog. H.Q. Just do it." Zap looked a little nervous.

"For this to make sense, Dog. H.Q. is another top secret organization that helps fight the spread of radical feline incidents. Me Zap and Ivy worked there before we came here. We fought evil cats. We were secret agents." Rocky explained.

"So what's M.E.O.W.S.?" Sadie demanded.

"Mousers Enforcing Our World Safety. Cool acronym, huh? They're the good cats, who D.O.G. made an alliance with. See, when Zap was being trained, we needed tech workers. Zap wanted to be a field agent, but he decided to take tech training and work part time. But he didn't have to because we got a few new recruits, including the best tech agent Dog H.Q. ever saw, Peek." Rocky told us.

I didn't say anything. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

"Oh great. A science geek and a tech nerd." Sadie said under her breath.

"No viruses in the system." Zap said, pretending not to hear her. "Oh wait! There's a video coming on!"

"Hello my little friends. I am here to tell you that the plot being created is so great, that not even you will be able to stop it Bolt." A voice said. We couldn't see who it was coming from.

"Who are you?!" Zap snarled.

"I am an old friend Bolt. A kind old friend. Maybe not to you, but to others in this room." Zip looked away when the voice said this. "Beware, because I am coming for you." The signal was cut off.

"That had to be Eclipse. That just had to be. Let me see if I can get the location of where the video was taped." Zap started typing away again.

"Hmm. It seems the signal was transmitted from... Oh my good dog! The Black Wolf's den! Zip, we can't send you there alone! I'll go with you and Rocky, you too." Zap was really worried now.

"What about us?" I pointed to Sadie and the rest of them.

"Stay here. Except, jackal, come." Anubis followed Zap and the others out of the room.

"Something really weird is going on." I whispered to Sadie.

 **Hi guys- Just wanted to thank two of my friends for the Luna and Emma characters! They were a big help in planning this book, and creating Zip's character.**


	10. Chapter 10

More dogs kept filing into the room. I didn't know what to do. I looked around and I saw Sadie wave at me from behind the wall. I walked over to her.

"We're following them." Sadie ordered me.

"No! We can't!"

"Why not?"

"Well, it's dangerous. We probably should just sit down and mind our own business."

"When do we ever sit down and mind our own business?"

She had a good point. "Yeah but they're like super agents. They'll find us."

Sadie was silent for a little while. "Well we'll have to take that chance. Either you come with me or I'm going alone." She ran to the little elevator platform.

"Wait!" I ran after her. _What am I doing?!_ I thought.

It was raining when we got outside. But it wasn't just water. It was _acid._ Don't ask me how everything wasn't burning up. Luckily there were some acid umbrellas nearby. How convenient.

We didn't know where Zap's team had gone, but we knew to go west. As we walked, we noticed things started getting more evil looking. The trees were dead and beady little eyes stared at us from every nook. Fog shrouded everything and vultures flew through the humid air. The water was murky and there may have been a few crocodiles watching us.

"Are you sure this was a good idea?" I asked Sadie.

"No." She shrugged and kept walking.

Soon we came across a looming forest. The trees were black and a strange blue glow was coming from in between them.

"I guess that's the Black Wolf's den. Are we gonna go in there?"

"Yes. Yes we are." She continued walking and I had no choice but to follow her.

As we entered the dark forest, a crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning shot down. Lucky we had those umbrellas because it started pouring acid.

"Look! There they are!" We hid behind a bush. Zap and his team were walking on. Suddenly, his head turned towards us.

"Go home." he snarled. "You can't fool us. Vamoose. Saonara. See ya later."

We didn't move.

"Alright. Who's going to escort them back to the castle? Don't you raise your hand Jackal Boy. I no trusty." Zap shook a paw.

"Then why'd you take him with you?" Sadie glared at him.

"That's a good question, but it won't be answered anytime soon. I need to stay here and so does Zip, so that leaves you Rocky."

"Alright fine dude. Come on people. Try to stay in a group." Rocky rolled his eyes.

"Why do we have to listen to you?" Sadie was getting angrier by the second.

"Just. Do. It." Zap growled and bared his teeth.

Sadie didn't say anything as we followed Rocky back to Embarkida.

After a little while, Zap and the others arrived back at the castle.

"We didn't find anything newsworthy- except a three headed snake." Zip shuddered.

"But put that in our records, Agent Red. Never know when something like that might come up." Zap pointed at a dog who was walking by. "Oh, and you two, are in trouble. You mine as well stick your head in a wood grinder, because I am not happy." He said that in a real even tone that made it sound so serious. "And then this mess over here," Zap indicated to Anubis who was totally unaware of what Zap just said. "He's the only reason why I brought you. I felt pity. But not anymore! We need an agent to escort them out of here. You know what? I'll do it! What the heck! What better way to make sure they don't do anything else stupid!" He pointed an accusing claw at us.

The acid had died down a little bit when we got outside. We grabbed an umbrella each and began walking away from the castle. Bast was just in a silent rage because of what Zap said. Khufu followed us without barking or doing stuff like that. Anubis decided to shut up. Sadie just didn't do anything. I was creeped out. So to sum it up, it was a silent trip. Zap didn't talk. He just hovered the umbrella over his head as he read a book titled _Magic Incantations of Barkida by Fido Firefur._ Every once in a while he would pull out a pen and write a few notes. Don't ask me how he got so good with a pen. He didn't even have opposable thumbs!

We walked for a while. No one said anything. I wanted to accuse Sadie for getting us into this, but I decided now wasn't the time.

Suddenly, Zap came to a screeching halt. His ears pricked up and he sniffed the air. We just watched. What was he doing? His ears moved back and forth like satellites. Bast started to act weird too. She seemed more alert than she was before and she was listening. Even Anubis caught on. I guess it was an animal thing. I was about to ask what was wrong when…

"REOWWRRR!"


	11. Chapter 11

Hi. Sadie back on. Okay, just to recap, I was getting a little freaked out because even though Stephanie had freed Anubis, Zap had somehow gained power. Now back to the story. [Ow! Stop shoving me Carter! Why? Because this part is about Snap and you wouldn't do it half right!]

A black tomcat and a striped she-cat leapt onto Zap's back. They clung on hard with their unsheathed claws. Zap fought back and bit at them. He shook back and forth and he was about to grab the black one by his neck when…

"Zap?" The black cat seemed to recognize him.

"Snap?" Zap knew this cat? "And is that you Alley?"

"Zap! I should've recognized you!" the she-cat meowed excitedly. "Wait is that Bast?"

"Yeah. There was this whole fiasco with a recruiting and then a bunch of Shadow Wolves, jackals and a lot of weird stuff." Zap explained. "Wait you guys are students at Emmeowida? Wow Snap and I are like creepily identical besides being different species! Lemme guess, heir to the White Lion?"

"Yup. You the heir to the White Wolf?" the tomcat asked.

"Yes. Oh and Alley, good to see you again! Haven't seen you since August!" Zap replied.

"Yeah, I know right?" the she-cat said.

"Okay, sorry to interfere with this happy reunion, but what the heck is going on?" I looked at Zap and the two cats.

"For your information I am Snap. Snap Lion Blast." The black cat nodded. "I am basically the Zap of Meowida, the cat Barkida.

"I am Alley O'Malley. Catchy name huh? I used to live in Zap's alley, we both being strays. I'm also a top operative at M.E.O.W.S. You know that right?" Explained the striped cat.

"Yeah Rocky told them. So what brings you guys here?" Zap inquired.

"Just barging into random unknown portals. You know us. And we obviously have the impulse to attack you with our claws unsheathed." Snap smiled, sticking out a claw.

"Is that a jackal?" Alley laid her ears back and hissed when she saw Anubis. He was in his human form so I don't know how she knew.

"Yup. Didn't I mention Jackals in my fiasco description?" Zap replied. "Chill Alley."

"Uh, how did you know I'm a jackal?" Oh great. This didn't even make sense to the gods! Bast seemed to get it though.

"Its a trait for us agents… Especially if we're magical agents..." Snap glared at Anubis. Zap whispered something to Snap and he snickered. He then in turn whispered it to Alley who had the same reaction.

"That'll be plan B." Zap materialized a notepad and wrote something down. It disappeared after he finished.

"So what's plan A? I mean, what are you planning anyway?" Carter asked them. Now even he had noticed something weird was going on.

"It's just a little ahead of time strategy. We like to stay on top of things, don't we?" Zap looked at the two cats mysteriously.

"Indeed." they chorused with a smirk.

"Well I've got to get this group to the human world portal. See you cats later." Zap continued walking. The rain had finally stopped. Zap folded up his umbrella and transported it away. The ones we were holding disappeared after his. He was reading that book again, and still taking notes. He pulled out another book this one was called _Explanations for Strange Phenomena in the Barkidian World by Rover Rustyrin._ He looked at each book and it appeared he was taking very detailed notes. He filled up three pages, front and back, in five minutes!

Soon we had arrived in the Barkida village. Dogs were everywhere, setting up their businesses for the day. As we walked by, the dogs and wolves pointed at us and whispered. I guess we were humans in a strange place. We walked to the place we had entered Barkida. The portal was already open.

"Alright. Hop to it. Don't have all day and breakfast is being served. I guess this counts as my morning stroll. Get through the portal." Zap looked at his wrist where a watch immediately appeared. How convenient.

Bast stepped through first. I could tell she was happy to leave. Carter and I went through and Anubis followed us. As Anubis stepped through the swirling doorway, I heard Zap mutter something.

"What'd he say?" I asked.

"Who?"

"Zap. What did he say as you stepped through the portal?"

"What? I didn't hear anything."

I raised one eyebrow.

"Okay. He said something. It's all part of my plan to get the key."

"Doesn't Stephanie still have it?"

"No. It changes places like I said before. Who knows where it went."

"Well apparently they have a plan too. And it doesn't sound good." Carter mentioned.

"I know. I don't know what it is. Chances are, he knows I'm on to him. You saw how fast he found you guys in the woods. That's what he's trained to do. He's a super agent." Anubis said.

"Seriously. You know a lot about this guy it's almost creepy." I remarked.

"Well it's kind of a canine thing. Your cat goddess over there wouldn't get it." Anubis pointed to her.

"I can hear you. And I'm beginning to like Zap better than you too. He actually gets along with cats! He has cat friends! I mean come on!" Bast hissed.

"Chances are I won't get that key." he sighed.

"Why do you need it?" Carter asked.

"A curse. Let's just say there's a curse, and that's the only thing that'll break it. I should've asked if I could use it! They might have let me. But now… There's pretty much no hope. I mine as well give up. Head back to the Land of the Dead-"

"No. We are not just giving up that easily." I interrupted. "When have we ever done that? We'll find it! And what curse?"

He exhaled painfully. "The Wolf's Curse. Every magic group is well aware of it. Barkidian magic is very powerful, and they're one of the groups that has a curse that can transfer from each clan. This time it chose to go Egyptian. Osiris chose me, because I'm a jackal, to retrieve the key to break it. There are a few students who are jackals at that school, one of them I know personally, Jace. I thought he could help me and I went to find him, and that's when I got enslaved. So it got messed up. It fell into Stephanie's hands. But I couldn't get it. Now it's moved on and I have no idea where it is. You know, why am I so involved in this? Bad choice Osiris!"

We didn't know where we were going for the rest of the day, we just knew we were going back to Barkida that night.


	12. Chapter 12

"We need ninja suits. I mean, Luna has the key. This is a big deal." Jace muttered. We had met up with the jackal and he was going to try to train us a bit so we could sneak in. "I don't much about this kind of stuff. I've learned enough being around Zap though. We also need cloaking devices and anti sound shoes. Or we could use magic. Whereas the devices might cost millions, the magic costs nothing. But through inexperience… Alright, who votes for magic?"

Everyone raised their hand.

"Well that's settled. We'll need some jetpacks though. Using jetpacks is better than using flight magic. They'll cost a lot… But luckily I stole the keys to the government's tech lab. He pulled a set of keys out of no where. "I also have the keys to the White House gates. And I also have the key that disables the security system. And the key into the actual White House. And into the residence. And the president's car keys. And some random guy's car keys. And-"

I cut him off. "Where do you get all these keys?"

"I'm magic. Where do you think? I am a first year, but they already taught us how to swipe like that. I've been practicing. Oh and I have a few credit cards. I also stole a Mercedes, but the Headmaster of Embarkida made me give it back. I also stole a huge flat screen TV. And a super computer. Oh! Yeah and don't forget about that gold-plated Lamborghini. Luckily no one found out about that… I could go on and on about all the stuff I have…"

"Yeah, well you don't need to." Anubis exclaimed. "So are you gonna train us?"

"Yes. Zap explained to me about the training courses they have at his Dog World H.Q. Oh and I also brought in one of the trainers from that place." Jace pointed to a dog who was tied up in the corner. Don't ask me how we missed that one. He was lasering his way out of the netting. "Okay fine. I dognapped him. Yeah, I'll return him." Jace waved his paw and the dog disappeared. "But I did get some info out of him. I know how to train you guys now! You know, I'm only doing this cause I'm a jackal. It's the jackal oath. I follow it. Luckily Embarkida doesn't have any rules against key stealing."

"Wait. If you're so good at stealing stuff, why couldn't you just swipe the key off?" Carter asked.

"Oh you don't know Luna. I couldn't do that. If I even tried, she'd have my soul before you could say 'in the doghouse'." he shuddered.

"Pure agent skills is what'll help us here. Magic will support us. Now come. Training begins." Jace told us.

"First, you must be able to sneak past me. I will stand here. You have to try and get past me without being noticed. See these big sonar ears?" He pointed to his huge ears. "They will find you. I also have a good sense of smell, but we won't focus on that because Luna's minions have a terrible sense of smell. Oh and to warn you, they are horrible. The most ugly thing you'd ever see! Who goes first?"

"I will." Anubis stepped forward. "Can I do this in jackal form?"

"Yeah. Now start." Jace turned around to face the other way.

Anubis almost made it across, but just before the end mark, Jace turned around. "Heard you. His huge ears were twitching like crazy. Try again."

Anubis went through again. and he made it. "Good. See, if you try to spread your weight evenly, it works. Now how 'bout the cat goes?" Jace offered.

Bast made it through the first time. Next Carter and I went, but we weren't as good. It took a few tries. Then Jace upped the training. Now he was watching the whole time, and we had to hide in different places to keep him from seeing us. That took forever, except for Bast, who had a natural talent for this. She _was_ a cat. Jace taught us a few more things and then we began to leave, but he stopped. His ears twitched and he put his nose to the air.

"Hold your position! Everyone!" he whispered. "They're coming! Hide!" Jace flipped into a bush. We all followed him.

"Who's coming?" I asked.

"Shush! Luna's minions!" Jace growled.

Suddenly, I saw something whizz by. When it stopped moving, I saw it's face. It was terrible. Little red glowing slits were it's eyes. It's face was the deepest black I had ever seen and it looked like it had been melted. It had a human body, but a lizard's scaly tail. It's ears pointed up and it had no mouth or nose. It turned our way and we held our breath, but it whizzed away again after a few moments.

After a few minutes Jace said: "See what I mean? You can come out of hiding. Now lets go get those jetpacks!

Jace seemed to be focusing very hard, and suddenly we found ourselves in Washington DC. "I'll be right back." he said, materializing.

A little while later, he appeared again with five jetpacks. "Now we need to figure out how to use these things. It's not like I know. Anyway, don't just press random buttons please." He strapped the jetpack on and pulled a rope that was marked _on._ The thing was quiet and you couldn't even tell it came on. He pressed a few more buttons, and suddenly shot up into the air. He almost fell, but he caught aloft after pushing down a few levers. He landed perfectly. He taught us how to use them.

"Hey look! A roof!" Jace climbed onto it and leaped off. He glided to the ground. "Jumping off roofs, anyone?" We all tried and no one got killed. Surprising.

"You guys are ready. Let's go." Jace transported us back to the area we had entered Embarkida before. He opened the portal and we stepped back through. Time to fight.


	13. Chapter 13

It's Carter.

Jace sniffed and looked around. His huge ears were twitching again as he padded through the Barkida town. They looked like sonar dishes, and they swiveled all the way around. His pointed muzzle went everywhere, and it waved through the air picking up who knows what.

As we proceeded on, it began to get darker, as it had when we followed Zap. The trees were all gnarled and it looked like they might reach out and grab us at any moment. Anubis was still in jackal form, and I could tell he didn't like what we were doing.

Jace whispered something to him, and Anubis fell back behind us. He slowed down and looked around nervously. His ears were moving around and he was on high alert like Jace.

Suddenly, a low growl broke out from Jace's throat. Hi hackles were rising fast. And then, he lunged. Anubis gave us a glance, without a word, and flew after him.

Sadie started to follow, but I grabbed her arm.

"Something's wrong. They want us to stay here." I told her.

"He's right. I can smell it. Something's very wrong. It smells like- death..." Bast looked around.

Sadie sighed and stepped back.

After a few minutes, I saw the two jackal's coming forward. But on Jace's back was the lifeless form of a little Chihuahua. Zip.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We found him like this. Injured… But he's not dead! We might be able to save him…"

Suddenly, there was a shimmer. An image began to appear before Jace. A beautiful white wolf stood there. Jace immediately dropped to the ground and rolled onto his back.

"Jace. They are humans. Looks deceive. I know what you're doing… But remember, everything is more than it seems." the wolf said in a silvery voice.

"Oh Great Queen of Light. I know what I have to do. But Zip is in trouble." Jace tucked his head under his chest.

"Zip will be saved, but by a deed of return. And Jace, there will be more. There is always more. Zip will be saved once more, by a deed of return. But not only that. There is more…" her image shimmered and disappeared.

"What was that?" Sadie asked after she'd gone.

"That, was your very first sighting of the White Wolf." Jace licked Zip's limp figure. He raised his head towards Anubis and whispered something. The jackal god placed his paw on top of Zip's tiny chest. Suddenly, the little dog's eyes shot open.

"A deed of return…" he muttered as he picked himself up. "She spoke. I'm sorry. I have to go back to Embarkida. Oh, and thank you." he nodded his head at Anubis.

"Wait, we're just going to let him go back after nearly being killed?" I exclaimed.

Jace just nodded and began to walk forward again. We followed.

Soon we had come to a place where almost no light came through the trees at all. It was

a creepy light too. A hollow formed and I saw a small slit in between two roots that was glowing red. Jace gazed at it and tried to stifle a snarl, but it came out anyway.

Jace strapped his jet pack buckles, nodded, and shot up into the sky.

"I guess if we're going to get the key we have to go up there." Anubis did the same as Jace.

We all followed Jace down in through the top of a tree. The red light grew stronger as we descended. I noticed, that as soon as we entered the tree trunk, Bast had turned into her leopard spotted cat self.

"Absolute silence from here on out." Jace whispered after we landed. He flicked his paw and we went invisible.

We carefully moved through the tunnels and crevices. As we moved on, the light got brighter and brighter. We stepped into a long corridor and shot down it. The room at the end was bursting with the red light, and as we entered it, I saw it sitting there. At last we'd found it.


	14. Chapter 14

The key was sitting right there for the taking. We could've walked right in and grabbed it off the black satin pillow. Except for one small thing. It was completely surrounded by guards, laser beams and an electric force field.

"So, the plan is for you guys to go out there a lead the guards away from that thing. I'll grab the key and make my escape. You guys have to get out of the tree before the guards catch you, and I'll help. Got it? Good! Now go!" Jace whispered.

"We never said yes…" I muttered as we slipped from our hiding place.

"Hey freaks!" Anubis waved at the guards.

"Come and get us!" Bast turned to run.

All the guards immediately shot after us. Their melted faces gleamed in the red light. As we ran out of the huge room, I saw Jace slip in and grab the key. He made a mad dash and I could barely make out the figure of a cat chasing him. Behind this cat followed a human-like shape, but I didn't have time to find out what it was. The creepy melted face guys were coming right up!

Soon, the exit had become visible! I was firing up my jetpack and I took off. We were into the air, except for one. Bast was still on the ground! The creeps were surrounding her. Suddenly, a tan and black streak flew onto one of the guards, the one who seemed to be in charge. It was Jace! He still had the key and he held it as he relentlessly bit the guard. Bast fired off and soon she was safe.

I had almost made it, when my jetpack began to make a weird sound. It sputtered and and started slowing down. Oh no. That wasn't a good sign. It hovered for a moment and then I started falling. I grabbed onto the edge of the huge tree and hung there, trying not to fall.

"Oh my God!" I heard someone say.

I couldn't see them, I tried to look down, but my fingers slipped and I fell, down, down, down.

 _Well this is it._ I thought. _The end._ But something happened. There was a howl. It was Zap! He ran underneath me, stood on his hind legs and put his paws in the air. I stopped falling and floated slowly to the ground.

As soon as both my feet were on the forest floor, Zap collapsed.

"You don't know what kind of power it takes a first year to do that." He gasped for air in between words.

"What the heck man?" Jace was running towards him.

Zap immediately stood up. "Jace. You dirty double crosser…" He snarled. "You are. But I'm not going to let anyone die around here. You're just jealous you didn't save him yourself."

"Am not!" Jace growled.

"Don't deny it…" Zap glared at him and Jace lunged for his throat. But Zap was quick and he flew out, jaws open and clamped down on Jace's neck. He held him to the ground and his sheer size helped. Jace struggled and tried to bite back, but Zap just put a paw over his muzzle. Finally, Jace had no choice but to go limp. Zap stepped down.

Zap turned to leave without a word. He padded off silently. "I thought I kicked you out. Though I really don't care." I heard him mutter.

"Humph." Jace shot Zap a dirty look. "Jealous. Why would I be jealous?"

"Well, he did save my life." I remarked.

Jace whipped around.

"Sorry. I'll just shut up now."

"He doesn't know we have the key. I think he thinks we failed- at least I hope." Jace said, holding it up. "We can use it. Mission accomplished. Now, lets get out of here." Jace shot off like a rocket and we did our best to keep up.


	15. Chapter 15

"Okay. So we have the key. Now we just need to use it." Jace paced back and forth. "We're going to have to take a detour to get to the underworld. Through the human world. I'll go in my human form, then we'll open the obelisk. D.C. is not too far from here, if we catch a bus, to the metro. Then get on the metro, walk to the Washington Monument, bam. Let's go." There was a glow of bronze light, and after it cleared stood a young man. His hair was dark brown with light brown steaks and he had a buzz cut. He was wearing jeans, with a black shirt and sneakers. His eyes were a sort of grey-green color. Jace. "I hate using my human form." Jace took off as fast as if he were in jackal form.

"Okay. So, catch this bus, and get on the metro." Jace thought out loud. "We don't have any money so I'll have to steal the metro tickets…" The bus pulled in.

Soon, we'd arrived at the metro station. Jace changed back into his jackal form. He snuck behind the ticket booth. A few seconds later, he ran out with five metro tickets.

"Okay. Here you go." Jace handed them out, and he turned back into a human. He ran off again. We made it just in time.

We sat there in silence. Then Jace's phone rang. [Ahem, It probably wasn't even his.]

"Hello? Oh hey. Really? That's kind of… How'd he figure that out? Oh, I see. Well Zip is trustworthy. Yes I know you hate me. I'm not particularly fond of you either. I know I'm a dirty double crosser… well to you. Yes. I won't. I swear on the fur on a canine's back. Have a horrible time." Jace paused in between sentences. Luckily no one was sitting in this car. I guess Jace went in there on purpose. It was the middle of a weekday, so it wasn't crowded.

"Who was it?" Bast asked.

"That was Zap. He just told me the real reason Anubis volunteered to help find the key. He wasn't forced to." Jace said. Anubis shifted uncomfortably.

"Well?" I asked.

"I can't tell you. Zap made me promise not to tell." Jace said.

"And you're going to listen? What about you?" I turned to Anubis. He shook his head. I sighed and turned back to Jace.

"Hey, I'm just being loyal to the Jackal Oath. And I have a feeling Anubis would rather not tell _you._ " Jace was trying not to laugh.

"Wait, there's a whole oath for jackals?" Carter inquired.

"Oh yeah. There's an oath for every species. Humans have a variety of oaths, like the Pledge of Allegiance. You should know." Jace said. "I would recite it to you, but it might take a few hours. It's one of the long ones. Whoever wrote it had some serious issues. I've only recited it once in my life. Every six years you have to go and recite it again, but I'm only three, in my jackal form."

The lights of DC were soon visible. We got off the metro, and headed toward the Washington Monument.

"Sadie, can you open the portal?" Jace asked once we had reached the tall obelisk.

"I'll see what I can do." I began to work. Bast helped. The others waited. I looked over my shoulder and I saw Jace whisper something to Anubis. Anubis sighed and nodded. Jace took out a notepad, wrote something down, and then sent the pad off to who knows where. I pretended not to see. I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

Finally, the obelisk opened it's portal with a blast of red light. It dimmed. We saw a ferry waiting on the River of the Dead.

Jace nodded. "Let's go." We stepped through the portal. As soon as we were through, Jace immediately changed back into jackal form. He shook himself off.

The Captain of the ship was a demon, Bloodstained Blade. He had a literal bloodstained blade as a head. Our family basically owned him.

"Greetings, Lord and Lady Kane. I see you have brought others. And Anubis, I suggest the key has been successfully retrieved?" He asked.

Jace held it up.

"Well good. Lord Osiris will be happy to see that." Bloodstained Blade lead us into the ship. As usual, there was a huge table laden with a banquet. It had literally any food you could ask for. Even weird stuff like alligator. I was going to grab a plate, because I was starving. I hadn't eaten since that horrible Embarkida dinner. But I saw Anubis leaving the ship deck, and I followed him.

He was standing at the bow of the ship.

"What? Oh… It's just you." He turned around. "Good. I wanted to talk to you about something."

I didn't say anything, but I walked up to the front of the ship with him.

"Things have been hard, ever since the Wolf's Curse was put on us. It's been all screwed up. We have a ten percent chance of exploding as we go down this river. Especially because we have the key. It's probably now a fifteen percent chance. I've felt the change. I don't know about you." he explained.

"Well, a window exploded in the mansion a couple days ago. There was no one to do it, no force. Nothing." I told him.

"Yeah, the curse does that. It makes things shatter and break. It drains power. It makes lives miserable. It can drive the mere mortal insane." he said. "Barkida is one of the only magic clans that has their own curse. We don't have one- yet. But Barkida's been around since the dawn of time. I mean, so have I sort of, but your Egyptian magic has only been around since ancient Egypt started. We haven't had the chance to become as powerful yet. But we will eventually."

"When?"

"Who knows. The curse wears off by itself eventually. If you let it. Don't try to stop it. Unless you have the key. If you manage to stop it with the key, it's worth it. You can never get the Wolf's Curse put on you again, and you have a better fortune. It helps you grow stronger. We've had it once before. Some say Ancient Egypt ended because Cleopatra tried to host a goddess, but we've only got the curse to blame. It corrupted Egyptians. They were too weak to resist it. They went insane. We've got to stop it, because untrained Blood of the Pharaohs are in trouble. They can't resist it. Except for Stephanie, who had Barkida on her side. Or maybe the other way around."

"But Sadie. Everything that has happened lately has really made me think. And I've wanted to say this for I while. Sadie I-"

Suddenly, there was a sonic boom. We were blasted back. I saw fear race through Anubis's eyes for a split second. "Run." he said, with a touch of panic in his voice. "Run into the ship. Warn the others. Get into the deepest part you can. Don't let anyone come out here, even Jace. It's happening. There's no turning back now." The ship began to turn in circles. He just stood there, paralyzed.

I didn't ask questions, even though I wanted to. I sprinted inside.


	16. Chapter 16

We huddled in the bottom of the ship.

"What's going on?" Bast asked, her hair now standing on end.

"I don't know. But I do know we're in trouble." I gasped for breath.

"I have to go out there." Jace padded up to the front door.

"No! You can't. He said no." I stepped in front of him. I thought he would argue, but he just

sighed and turned away.

"He's making a mistake." Jace muttered. I could feel the ship turning faster and faster, but it was hard to tell from so deep inside it.

We were down there for what seemed like forever. Finally the spinning stopped. There was a knock on the door. It was Anubis.

"You can come out now." He blinked. His eyes were wide and he was even more pale than he normally was. "It's over."

The others ran out to see what had happened, but I stayed behind.

"What was it?" I asked. I touched his hand. It was cold and clammy, more than usual.

"That was the test. The test to survive. We have the key. To stop the curse. It knows that." He grasped my hand and turned away. He took me to the top deck, where the others were. Wood, paper and stone was everywhere. Glass had shattered and a few creepy looking fish were flopping around on the floor. Bast was watching them flip into the air. He let go of my hand and walked up to Jace. Jace gave him the key. The ship had just stopped near the Hall of Judgement.

"This will take a deathtime to clean up." Bloodstained Blade groaned. "Well I bid you luck."

We climbed off the ship and walked through the door that lead to the hall.

It was the same way it had been when we saw it last. The Golden Scales were in the center of the room and the monster Omit the Devourer was sitting by them He growled, but when he saw Anubis holding the key, he stopped. Bast hissed as she walked past him.

And there was the throne. Osiris was sitting on it. Our father. He had joined with Osiris during our long battle with Set.

"Welcome back Carter and Sadie. We haven't seen each other in a long time." he said.

"It's been long enough." I said.

He laughed. "So you've gotten wrapped up in this whole curse now too? But I do trust you have the key." He turned to Anubis who held it out. "Good work. Was it that hard?"

"Difficult." Carter said.

"Horrible." Jace growled. "They couldn't have gotten it without me."

"Jace, I didn't see you there." Osiris turned to look at him. "Well thank you."

"Sure." Jace said with a touch of sarcasm. "Anytime."

Osiris handed the key back to Anubis. "You can do it. I trust you."

Anubis nodded and turned around. Carter, Jace and I followed, but Bast stayed behind.

We turned to a room I'd never seen before. It was huge. Giant marble arches covered the room. The floor shined and it looked like it had been waxed. The door we entered through was giant and it was made of wood. The room had no windows. In the center of it, there was a stone slate on a pedestal. A tiny key was carved into it. The slate said, _To stop the Wolf's Curse…_ Some strange language followed. It wasn't hieroglyphs; I couldn't read it.

Jace walked up. "Allow me." He put his front paws up on the pedestal and he began to read.

"To stop the Wolf's Curse, you must insert the Key of Barkida directly into the slot. One wrong move, and this room will explode, taking you with it. You must make the choice yourself, which way to insert this key? It will fit in any way you choose, but only one way is correct. Remember, there is no turning back once you have placed they key inside. You better pray for the mercy of the White Wolf." Jace recited. "Well, I hope you know what you're doing. Cause I don't, and I'm a student of Embarkida. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go pray for mercy in the corner. You just don't know what I went through to find way to help you."

As we neared the pedestal, the key began to glow. It was now or never.


	17. Chapter 17

Okay, this is Carter.

"Okay. I have no idea what I'm doing, so, Jace good idea praying for mercy, cause we're gonna need it." Anubis stared at the glowing key. "Why did I ever take this job? I'm so stupid..."

Jace snorted. "Really? That's all you have to say?"

"Yes. Yes it is." Anubis glared at him. "Hardly a time to make fun of me. And Jace. It's not like I don't know about your… you know..."

Jace gulped. He turned back around to continue to pray.

Anubis turned the key over and over. He studied it, and then studied the key slot.

"So, Jace. How did you know how to read that inscription?" Sadie asked.

"Ugg. Can't you see I'm trying to keep us alive here? Well it's the Barkidian Alphabet. I learned in school." Jace growled.

Anubis was still looking at the key, when there was a crashing noise. The wall busted open, and there stood a three headed dog, with a black cat on its back.

"Greetings neighbors! I have come to kill you! And by that I mean to suck your souls out from your drained body, because I have a vampire with me!" A fanged human waved from the back of the dog. "Then my Uncle Cerberus here will eat your carcass! If you don't… GIVE ME BACK THE KEY!"

"Wait, woah woah woah…" Jace had come up from the corner. " _That_ is your uncle?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Cerberus snarled.

"No, I'm just saying you don't look at all alike. And I can't help but notice you're wearing pajamas with hearts and rainbow unicorns…" Jace looked him over.

"And I'm assuming you got a problem with that?" The dog bared his teeth.

"Yeah, I told him to take them off but he refused. I'll get him for that…" Luna clenched her paws.

"You did wake me up in the middle of my nap… But it's okay if you're taking me to eat someone's dead body. Dead, alive, rotted, I'll eat it!" he said.

"Okay, so shall we start?" Luna smirked.

"No one's starting anything!" a voice called out.

"Not on our watch!" Another voice.

"Luna, you better watch out because you're shadowy butt's about to get kicked!" And another.

Three dogs flipped down from the tall ceiling. They were wearing sunglasses, and these black leather jackets. They had grappling hooks in their paws. Zap, Rocky and Zip.

"Cerberus, Emma. ATTACK!" Luna screeched. Two of Cerberus's heads fell off and grew bodies. Now there were three huge dogs with six inch long fangs, an evil soul munching Shadow Cat and a flying bloodsucking creature after us!

"Wow, I did not know he could do that. I really need to break into his diary." Luna remarked as she flew onto Bast's face as she walked into the room. Bast hissed and screamed and started clawing her, but the claws went right through Luna.

Suddenly, one of the huge dogs smashed into me. It was about to bite down, when it strangely collapsed on the ground. Zap stood behind it holding a whistle. "Cerberus whistle." he said. "I had it specially made. I have a whistle for everyone. Creepy, right? So, can you fight?"

"Well if I had my khopesh…" I muttered. One materialized in my hands immediately.

"Luckily, I had one nearby." Zap flashed a smile showing his gleaming teeth and leapt off.

Then, I saw the vampire flying at me, full speed! I slashed the sword and a leg thudded to the ground. [That's so disgusting!]

"Dang." the vampire fell to the ground. "In this dimension it'll take me five minutes to grow that limb back. Hey one of you Cerberus dogs! Want a free vampire leg? It'll give you energy!"

I ducked for cover near the pedestal. Zip landed next to me.

"You shouldn't have gone out of your way to steal that key. Now look!" he indicated the battle. "If you know anything about the history between Barkida and you're little clan, you wouldn't have. Jace knows, he was just following the jackal code. At least he's loyal to something. Traitor… And then your jackal boy, he knew… but if they told you anything… Oh holy wolf! Here he comes!" A Cerberus was bounding towards us. I flung out my sword and Zip leapt onto the thing's face.

"You better back down unless you want to be skewered like shish-ka-bob! Or should I say Cerby-kabob?!" Zip bit the dog's face relentlessly while I came forward with my sword. I was about to slash the Cerberus to bits, when something stopped me.

"EVERYBODY STOP!" two voices howled.

A shimmering white wolf and a shadowy black wolf stepped from opposite sides of the room.

"Oh great. We're in unison." the Black Wolf sneered.

"There's no need to fight. Remember history class students! You Jace, I have a lot to say, and Zap, Rocky, Zip! Then we have two humans and two gods…" the White Wolf studied it all.

"Correction: three." the Black Wolf pointed to Osiris who had come into the room.

"What's going on in here?" he asked. "Crystal? Jet?"

"Apparently it's a very long story. Clueless Egyptians… How I hate them… I wish Barkida had never associated with them in the first place. Useless peice of human junk magic thing… I'll snap their spines…" The Black Wolf growled.

"Now, Jet. Let's not get angry here." the White Wolf scolded.

"Really? I'm an evil creature of darkness! The first thing I say each morning is 'I'll kill you all!' It's really very refreshing and it prepares me for the day of deaths ahead." the Black Wolf remarked.

"Hey! I do that too! I agree it's very energizing." Luna told him.

"Maybe I should start doing that… It'll give me more pump to drain some people. Oh hey! My leg's back!" the vampire looked over her leg. "Ooh... A toe's missing… Oh wait! That's back too!"

"So, we need to have a meeting Osiris. This is a serious matter. I'm sure that you are involved?" the White Wolf said.

"Well yes. But I didn't instruct the key to be stolen. I said to retrieve it. And by that I meant to ask if we could use it…" He shot Anubis a glance. "You knew Barkida owed us. I'm sure they would have let us borrow it to stop the curse."

"We would have indeed. It's in the laws all magic clans must follow.. The key cannot be lended out to anyone, unless we owe them a favor. And for stealing the key there is a serious penalty, no matter the situation." the White Wolf explained.

"I understand this Crystal." Osiris said. "But what would you have in mind for this 'penalty?'"

"Here's what I say. Luna R. Eclipse gets the key back, and these four have to undergo a mental exercise for a week. Sound fair?" the Black Wolf's fangs gleamed in an evil grin.

"Um, Jet. I think that might kill some of them. Mental exercises can make you go insane after a day of them and lead you to your death. Even less time for a non-magic being." the White Wolf told him.

"I know. That's my point. They deserve to die. AFTER WHAT THEY DID!" he snarled.

"No. How about this. Since of course we owe you, I will allow you to use the key, but under one condition. These four must do of some service to Barkida. Who knows how long, we shall discuss that further. After the key is used, it will be returned to Ms. Eclipse. And as for Jace, he will have detention for five days. He must also do extra services at Embarkida for two weeks. Also, I think Zap, Rocky and Zip must have detention for at least a day. Ms. Eclipse and Emma included." the White Wolf suggested.

"That sounds fair enough. So when will all of this be arranged?" Osiris asked.

"I think we should take the key back to Barkida for now. We can have a meeting at whatever time would be flexible for everyone, hopefully tomorrow. Is two thirty in the afternoon open?" she glanced around the room.

"Yes. Fine with me." Osiris replied.

"If I must." the Black Wolf said through clenched teeth.

"Alright. We shall meet in the intersecting dimension tomorrow at that time in that dimension. And Osiris, I suggest keeping a close watch on your children and fellow god and goddess. I will watch my students." the White Wolf's aura began to flicker. The Black Wolf was already gone.

Osiris gave a nod as she disappeared. I could tell we were in trouble. A lot of trouble.


	18. Chapter 18

We were sent back to the mansion, Sadie and I. Our uncle, Amos, had found out about all the trouble we had gotten into, and I couldn't say he was pleased.

I was up in my room a few nights after the fiasco when I got a visit.

"Hey! Look alive! I'm hangin' here with suction cups, a grappling hook and a little magic. Not much to go by when you consider the fact I'm hanging at least fifty feet above NYC. Let me in! Get the point across! Man you are slow to catch on." Zap was hanging on my window. I walked over to let him in. It was eleven thirty at night.

"Look, we're all in the same boat here. In trouble. They say I should've went to my authorities and told them about you guys! But seriously! I need you to listen!" Zap stepped into my room.

"About what? It's almost midnight! I was trying to sleep!" I told him angrily.

"I'm not supposed to be here so don't ask questions! I need your help. See, you and Sadie have to meet us outside tomorrow morning. We're going to eavesdrop on the meeting in the intersecting dimension."

"Well how am I supposed to do that? They're watching us like hawks!" I asked.

"We'll have to be sneaky…" Zap jumped out the window. His hang glider opened he flew away, the lightning bolt logo on the top of the wings flashing.

I found myself running. I was sure it was a _ba_ trip because I could see my sleeping form below me. I got farther and farther as my ba ran, though I wasn't in the usual chicken human headed form.

I came across two wolves. They were sitting on a hill top, and the sun was setting. A muscular black wolf was staring off into the distance. He turned around and said something to the beautiful white wolf behind him. who had two pups, one black and one white. I couldn't tell what he said. The white wolf had tears streaming down her muzzle. The black wolf whispered something to her. Then he stood up and said something else. Then, he took off down the hill. This kept replaying itself, until an image of a red wolf appeared. She laughing. She was laughing a horrible laugh that sent chills up my spine. I saw the beaten body of the muscular black wolf, and then an image of the Black Wolf. I saw an image of the beautiful White Wolf howling a mourning cry, and then a picture of the White Wolf. Jet. Crystal. White Wolf. Black Wolf. It all made sense now! The Black Wolf wasn't always evil like I'd been told! It was the red wolf I had seen. She was the true criminal.

And as the maniacal laughter faded, so did by dream. I was awake again. I looked at the clock. It was two forty seven AM. I heard someone outside my door. They walked across the creaky floor. and stopped. Then they started again.

I got out of bed and opened my door. Sadie was sneaking across the floor.

"Where are you going?" I whispered.

"I was going to… umm… get a drink! Yep. That's it." she lied.

"I'm not going to ask. But I had the creepiest ba trip ever." I shivered.

"I hardly doubt that." she remarked.

"You won't after I tell you." And I did. At the end, she looked convinced.

"Maybe. I don't know. So you think this 'Red Wolf' is the evil one?" she asked.

"Yeah. She has to be. I think she turned the Black Wolf evil."

"Maybe." she thought. "We can ask tomorrow."

"Wait. What do you mean 'ask tomorrow?'"

"Oh, you didn't know? We decided we're going to eavesdrop on the White Wolf's, Black Wolf's and Osiris's meeting."

"Oh I know that, but how are we going to ask?"

"We might not have to. I bet we'll find out some useful information. I'm going back to bed."

"How are we going to sneak out?"

"We'll have to be very careful."


	19. Chapter 19

Hi. This is Sadie again.

I woke early the next morning. Zap was going to come and break us out. I was brushing my teeth, when their was a knock on my door. I walked over to open it. It was Zap and Carter was with him.

"I decided not to risk the suction cups again, so I came in through the door with my Invisi-shield. Let's go." He leapt off a rafter and landed on the floor below.

The others were waiting outside. Others basically means, Bast, Anubis, Jace, Zip and Rocky.

Zap nodded at everyone and looked them over. "Zip and Rocky, you guys are good. Jace, you too, but everyone else kind of sucks…"

"Yeah… If we gave them some tasers and maybe a few grenades…" Rocky studied us.

"No, they need armor! Like that armor Lupus wears half the day… But human shaped…" Zip noted.

"How 'bout some rocket skates? And parachutes too…" Jace cocked his head to get a better look.

"You know what? They made it far enough. Just use your paws- ahem, hands." Zap turned to walk away.

"That was something Butch always said. It happened a lot, like during the Kitty Galore case, the nunchuck puppy incident." Rocky said to Zap.

"Yeah. Butch was like, DID YOU HEAR ME?! ARE YOU DEAF?! And Diggs was like, dang you puppies, ahem. Yes sir. I heard you." Zap said.

"Talkin' 'bout me, aren't you? 'Ey, kid." A voice came out of no where.

"Butch! I'd recognize that voice anywhere. I could pick it out in the middle of the H.Q. Fair!" Zap exclaimed.

"Who these human freaks? Lemme guess: Egyptians. Dog I hate those guys." A large Anatolian Shepherd appeared in front of us.

"Got that right. But you know, in general humans aren't the best species that walks the earth…" Zap glanced at us. "Hey, we mine as well be honest! We don't like you guys, if you haven't already figured that out…"

"The feeling is mutual…" I muttered.

"I heard that." Zap growled. "But you know, I don't really care."

"Oh and I see Jace is here too." Butch's ears went back.

Jace lowered himself. He was nothing compared to the size of the dogs around him.

Suddenly there was a screeching sound. Zap, Butch, Rocky, Zip and Jace took off without warning. I saw a vulture flapping through the sky. We just ran after them.

"What's going on?" I demanded.

"Shut it, unless you want to be eaten alive!" Zap menaced in a whisper. He was hiding in a shrub.

"I thought vultures only ate dead things…" Carter mentioned.

"Yeah, well not everything is always true. And, that vulture can see you from there. Like you wouldn't notice…" Butch growled.

We ducked into another shrub. We waited until the vulture had passed.

"That's Doggo's vulture. It'll rip our livers out, so if you see it, hide." Zap said. "Speaking of liver, I could go for some."

"Keep your head on the mission." Butch laughed, trying to sound serious.

We left the shrubs and walked into the front yard. Butch opened a portal. We all stepped through without a word and found it lead to the intersecting dimension.

"Their meeting was supposed to be scheduled at the Plaza. Now you guys have to be super quiet." Zap told us.

We followed Zap and the others over to a huge palace like structure. Zap peered inside.

"They're in." Zap whispered. "Come on."

Zap ran around the side of the building to an open window. He threw in a tiny tape recorder.

"Now, we wait."


	20. Chapter 20

After what seemed like forever, we saw the White Wolf, the Black Wolf and Osiris coming out of the Plaza.

"And…." Butch watched them. "They're out! Now stay."

Butch and Zap jumped through the Plaza window and came out a few seconds later with the tape recorder.

"Okay. I'm taking this back to our base where we can listen to it and analyze a little data." Zap shoved the recorder into his collar. You guys, go back to the mansion, or whatever place you're supposed to be, and we'll tell you the info later."

"Why don't we come with you?" I stepped in front of Zap.

"Do you really think your uncle is going to be stupid enough to not wonder where you are?" Zap growled. He shoved me out of the way and the other dogs followed.

"I will kill him." I watched them go.

"Actually, he'd kill you first, but you know…" Carter said.

I glared at him.

When we arrived back at the mansion, we snuck back into our rooms, and waited until it was a little later before we got up. Our uncle was sitting at the table with a note in his hands.

"What is that?" I asked, peering over his shoulder.

"They're using the key today, and they want you to go." Amos explained. "I'm not sure it's a wise decision on Osiris's part, but whatever he says…"

We ate breakfast quickly and hurried back up the stairs. When we came back down, our uncle had already opened the portal to the key room.

"Go…" he pointed to it.

"Um okay…." We stepped through. When we got out, I immediately noticed Zap was standing directly in front of the portal, staring at us.

"Maybe you should get a watch. You're late." he turned and ran over to the stand where the place to insert the key is. Everyone was sitting around it, while Osiris stood in the center, holding the key.

"The time has come." he said. "The curse will be broken and we will go stronger."

"You will have good fortune. You will prosper. You will survive." the White Wolf stood next to Osiris. "Go."

Osiris turned around to face the lock. He studied the key, then studied the lock. Suddenly, the key flew into the it. There was a blast of light, and I noticed the room beginning to disintegrate around us. The lock disappeared and the key shot up into the air. Soon, it was gone. The light died down and I noticed we were standing in the scale room. The key room, was gone.

"The curse is broken." the White Wolf's words faded out.

We stood in the scale room for a while, fixing things up. The curse had destroyed a lot. I noticed Zap whispering something to Anubis.

"No…" Anubis told him. "I can't do that…"

"But she'll understand! You have to… It could save us all… The war is coming… and uh, we should continue this conversation somewhere else…" Zap noticed me standing there, looking at them.

"What war?" I asked.

"Nothing…" Zap stepped away from me. "Looks like we gotta go!" Zap grabbed Rocky, Zip and Butch and ran out of the room.

"I won't even ask." I muttered as I turned around to help some more.

In the end, we signed a peace treaty with Barkida. We vowed to help each other's kingdoms as if they were our own… But how long would it last…?

 **To be continued...**


End file.
